


you blink and it's gone

by kiranerys42



Category: People Hold On (2015)
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, F/M, M/M, Marijuana, Sexual Content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-19
Updated: 2020-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:28:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23216272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiranerys42/pseuds/kiranerys42
Summary: Matty and Marley start to figure their shit out. Or...maybe not.
Relationships: Matty/Marley, past Matty/Dan
Comments: 8
Kudos: 7





	you blink and it's gone

**Author's Note:**

> Most of this fic was written in a single evening, directly after I finished watching People Hold On for the first time. The movie left me with a _lot_ of questions. I don't know if this fic actually answers any of them.
> 
> A huge thank you to [ladyflowdi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladyflowdi) for her very enthusiastic cheerleading, and for helping me to figure out how to end this thing. (If you can call what I've written here an "ending," that is.)
> 
> And thank you to G for humoring me when I asked her "what's a really pretentious camera?"

Matty kisses like nothing else matters; like in that moment, it’s the most important thing in the world to him. The change is shocking, after kissing Dan these past few weeks. Dan's not a bad kisser, but he’s usually just a bit distracted, like he’s always thinking about the next thing—going out to dinner, going home, getting naked. 

One of the first things Marley liked about Dan was that he was older. It made it seem like he might have his shit figured out. Like he might be the kind of guy who knows what he wants, and how to get it. But now, Marley’s not so sure. Marley knows that she doesn’t have her shit figured out, either, but she at least has a clear idea of what she wants—to make art. To be successful, if not famous. To be happy.

Matty _definitely_ doesn’t have his shit figured out, but just like Marley, he knows what he wants.

When Matty finally pulls away from the kiss, he’s flushed and a little breathless.

“Let’s get out of here,” he says.

“What, like—right now?” Marley laughs. “But how? I don’t have a car, Dan drove me here. And didn’t you get a ride with Alycia?”

“Yeah, we carpooled from Dorleyville. If we walk to the main road, I’m sure we can hitchhike back to my car.”

“You want to _hitchhike_ ,” Marley says, incredulous. “To Dorleyville.”

“Sure, why not?” 

Marley thinks about it, and she realizes he’s right. She told Dan she didn’t want to leave, but—that was because she’d have to leave with him. She doesn’t mind leaving with Matty.

“Just let me go grab my purse, at least.” 

“Okay, but—” Matty presses a finger to her lips. “ _Shh_ , don’t let anyone see you. Let them wonder where we went.”

“Oh, believe me,” she says, “I definitely plan to leave Dan hanging.”

*

It’s easy to sneak through the cabin and grab her purse. Twenty minutes later, they’re both stumbling through the woods, laughing about all the drama they left behind.

“How long do you think until they realize we’re gone?”

“Oh, Dan’s head is so far up his own ass, he’ll probably be the _last_ to notice,” Matty says. He picks a stick up off the ground and examines it before breaking it in half and tossing the pieces off to the side.

“What’s the deal with you and Dan, anyway?” 

Matty takes a deep breath, straightens his shoulders, and pulls a joint out of one of his sleeve cuffs. “You wanna smoke?”

“Sure,” Marley says. They sit down in a clearing in front of a large tree. 

“You gotta light?” Marley asks.

“Yeah.” Matty passes her a match, and she lights it with her teeth, because—why not. Matty watches her intently, and the fact he’s still so genuinely delighted by her silly party trick the second time around is nearly as intoxicating as the weed. 

“So, you should probably know,” Matty says after they both take a hit, “that Dan and I had a— _thing_ , back in the day.”

Marley had thought none of the people she’d met this weekend could surprise her, anymore, but apparently she was wrong. 

“You had a _thing_? But didn’t you and Julia?...”

“Yeah, in high school. Dan was—after. It wasn’t even really—he doesn’t _date_ guys, really. I don’t think he even tells people he fucks them. It’s not like what happened with Robin, he didn’t fucking _propose_ to me, he just let me suck his cock a few times and then stopped returning my calls for six months.” 

Marley raises her eyebrows.

“Sorry, sorry, that was too much information, I know. It’s just—he’s such a _hypocrite_ ; that’s what gets me. Always telling people he’s one thing, and then turning around and being someone completely different.” 

Marley takes another hit, inhaling deeply. “Damn right,” she says, exhaling smoke. 

“Anyway, I just thought you had a right to know. Sorry if it makes things weird,” Matty says. “Do you want to go back?”

“Not a chance.” Marley puts out the joint and kisses him. Pretty soon they’re nearly horizontal, Matty halfway on top of her.

“Wait, wait,” Marley says, smiling as she pushes Matty away. “I’m gonna get dirt in my hair.”

They both stand up, and Matty takes a look around. He unbuttons his shirt, shrugs it off, and carefully lays it out at the base of the tree. “You sit here,” he says, putting his hands on her hips and firmly guiding her over towards the tree, “lean back, and let me do all the work.”

“What—oh my god, you want to have _sex_ in the middle of a _forest_ , what the _fuck_ ,” Marley giggles. “You know, I’ve never had sex outside before.”

“Well, there’s a first time for everything,” Matty says, unbuttoning Marley’s shorts. 

“Wait, wait, do you even have a condom?” she asks.

“Oh, we don’t need one,” Matty says, and Marley thinks things are about to go _completely_ off the rails, but then he says “I just wanna eat you out,” and everything is fine again. _More_ than fine, in fact, and as Matty kneels down between her legs, and Marley gets a solid grip on his hair. 

*

“I think your shirt is ruined.” Marley watches as Matty shakes off the dirt and twigs, gives it a sniff, shrugs, and puts it back on. “What about the rest of your clothes, anyway? Should we have asked Robin or Alycia to bring them back for you?”

“No, I was thinking—I think it’s time for me to get a new wardrobe,” Matty says. “Turn over a new leaf, you know.”

“That shirt has certainly turned over a lot of leaves, now.”

“What about _your_ clothes? And your art supplies?”

“Oh, I’m sure Dan will bring them back.”

“Are you sure you, uh, trust him with your stuff? At this point?”

“Yeah,” Marley says. “I have his Nikon D3500 in my apartment right now. I don’t even know why he owns that thing, he only uses it to take pictures of latte art for his Instagram. But if he ever wants that back, he’d better bring me my stuff.”

*

It takes them another 45 minutes to reach the highway, and about an hour of waiting around by the side of the road before someone stops to pick them up. It’s pretty cramped in the extended cab of the old man’s pick-up truck, but it’s kind of nice, having to sit so close to Matty. The old man’s name is Tom, and he doesn’t ask too many questions _or_ comment on the fact that they reek of weed, so Marley likes him instantly. 

By the time they reach Dorleyville, it’s almost dark. They stop by Matty’s car, because he has a few extra clean shirts in there—well, Matty says they’re clean. Marley’s skeptical, but she keeps her doubts to herself. 

But they don’t get in the car, and they don’t leave. They don’t even need to have a conversation about it—they just head straight for the dingy diner, and after Marley’s pancakes and Matty’s burger, they check in at the sketchy motel across the street, the one with the flickering neon _vacancy_ sign. 

Matty takes the first shower. Then, while Marley showers, Matty goes out to pick up beer. It takes Marley a long time to wash all the dirt and leaves out of her hair, and by the time she comes out of the bathroom, wearing just a towel, Matty’s back. He’s lounging on the bed with a can of beer, flipping through the channels on the TV. But the moment she steps in the room, all his attention shifts to her. 

“There’s nothing good on, anyway,” he says, turning off the TV. “I got beer, you want one?” He gestures towards the nightstand, where a few more cans of beer are sitting next to a box of condoms. 

“No thanks, I’m good.” Marley joins Matty on the bed, straddling him and settling on his lap. 

“Yeah, this is much better than watching TV,” Matty mutters as Marley leans in and kisses him. They kiss lazily at first, but before long, Marley’s thrown her towel to the side and Matty is kissing her face, her neck, her chest; his hand wanders down her chest until he finds a nipple and tweaks it just a _little_ too hard, but when she responds with a sharp _Hey!_ , he just kisses her even more gently as a silent apology. 

She’s just about to flip them over, tangle her hands in his hair, and guide his head down lower for a second round of what they did earlier when Matty pushes her away.

“Hold on, hold on—do you have a phone charger I can borrow?” he asks.

“Oh my god, how is _that_ what you’re thinking about right now?” Marley replies. But she still gets up, laughing, and goes to grab her purse and dig out her phone charger. 

“I like you,” she says, without entirely meaning to; the words spilling out of her just like her laughter. “I like you a lot.” She tosses the charger to Matty, and he catches it effortlessly.

Matty doesn’t respond as he plugs the charger into the wall and his phone into the charger. Marley’s a little worried that maybe what she said was a little too much for him to handle—they still barely know each other, and here she is, dumping _feelings_ on him. Not that _I like you_ is that deep, as far as feelings go, but—guys are weird about that kind of thing, sometimes. 

But when Matty looks up, he’s grinning. “Yeah, I like you too,” he says, and _he_ looks a little surprised at the words that just came out of his mouth. It’s comforting, somehow, to know that Matty’s caught off guard by his feelings, too. “Now how about you come back over here so I can show you just how much I like you?”

*

By the time they’ve tired each other out, it’s that odd time between night and morning, when it's hard to say if it’s _really late_ or _really early_. 

“Think your phone’s charged yet?” Marley asks. 

“I don’t know, let me check.” Matty reaches over her to grab his phone off the nightstand. But he doesn’t quite reach far enough, and while he’s leaning over her, he bends his head down and presses a kiss to her chest. Marley runs her hands through his hair, and she’s struck by how tender the moment is. 

Then Matty nips at her neck, and the moment becomes decidedly _less_ tender. She’s trying to guide him up towards her face so she can kiss him properly when he finally grabs his phone and sits back up.

“You’re a tease,” Marley complains. Matty just laughs.

“Believe me, I’ll make it up to you later. Well, not later _tonight_ , but tomorrow sometime, for sure. Just—” Matty has to bat Marley’s hands away as she reaches over and tries to take the phone from his hands. “Come on,” he says, laughing as they pretend to fight over the phone, “just let me check on this real quick.”

Marley leaves Matty alone after a moment, and watches as he taps and swipes at his phone’s screen, his face growing more and more concerned.

“No one’s texted yet,” he says. 

“Well of course they haven’t, there’s no signal at the cabin.”

“Oh, right,” Matty says. “I guess I just thought…maybe they’d be worried and come looking for us, you know?”

Marley shrugs. “Maybe someone will try tomorrow.”

“Okay,” Matty manages to say through a yawn. “C’mon, let’s sleep.”

“ _You’re_ the one keeping us up,” Marley retorts, but she settles into Matty’s arms easily, and before long, they’re both asleep. 

*

Matty gets up first, around noon. Marley follows soon after, and she’s pleasantly surprised to see that Matty also picked up a couple toothbrushes and some toothpaste the previous night. She brushes her teeth and reluctantly puts yesterday’s clothes back on, then heads down to the lobby, where Matty is waiting for her. He’s nursing a cup of black coffee and has a serious look on his face. 

“I think we should go back to the cabin.”

“I agree,” Marley says. 

“Really?” It’s obvious Matty didn’t expect her to agree.

“Yeah, I decided I don’t actually trust Dan to bring my shit back.”

“Oh, okay,” Matty says. “That makes sense.”

“And? Why do you want to go back?”

“Oh, I just—I think it’s weird that no one’s called yet,” Matty says.

Marley doesn’t think it’s weird at all, but it doesn’t really matter, so she shrugs it off. “Okay. Let’s go.”

*

Marley scans through the radio stations as Matty drives them down the two-lane highway; the options are pretty limited, and she’s not particularly interested in country or Christian rock, so she ends up settling on a local talk radio station just for the background noise.

She lets the voices fade into the background along with the shakes and rattles of Matty’s old car. But as time passes, and they’re passed by not one, not two, but _three_ separate cop cars, she turns up the volume to see if maybe they’ll mention what’s going on.

“— _should avoid the junction of Highway 5 and Old Creek Road. Old Creek Road is closed to all westbound traffic until further notice._ ”

“Hey, isn’t that where we’re headed?”

“What? Oh,” Matty says distractedly. “I guess. Maybe we need to find another route?”

“Okay, but there’s no signal, I can’t get Google Maps to load.”

“I’ll just—” Matty pulls off to the side of the road with a _screech_ , makes an illegal U-turn, and turns down a small side road they’d passed a few hundred feet back.

“Are you sure we should be here? This looks like a private road,” Marley says.

“It’s fine,” Matty says. “I think we might get a better signal if we head up this way.”

The narrow dirt road winds up a hill, and it makes sense that they’d be more likely to get cell phone service at the top of a hill. At least, Marley thinks it does. It sounds like a reasonable thing to try, at least.

The radio station slowly fades to static as they make their way up the hill.


End file.
